Type Locality:

The type section is near a waterfall on the headwaters of Bat Creek (formerly Bull Creek), about 10 km (6.25 mi) south of the Muskwa River; 57 deg 47'N, 123 deg 37'W; NTS 94G/13, eastern Rocky Mountains, northeastern British Columbia (Sutherland, 1958).

Distribution:

The Prophet, lying mainly in the eastern Rocky Mountains and western foothills extends from southwestern District of Mackenzie and southeastern Yukon Territory to Mountain Creek (NTS 93O) south of Pine Pass, east-central British Columbia (Bamber and Mamet, 1978; Richards et al., in press). It is thickest in the Halfway River maps area (NTS 94B) west of Fort Saint John, where it reaches more than 1,100 m (3,608 ft). North and south of this area, in more easterly sections the thickness ranges from approximately 150 to 760 m (492 to 2,493 ft). The formation thins gradually southwestward to 3.5 m (12 ft) or less (Bamber et al., 1968) because of depositional thinning and a facies change to shale of the Golata and Besa River formations. Marked local thickness changes occur in the southwestern Peace River Embayment because of block faulting. Member B is generally much thicker than the other members.

Lithology:

The Prophet Formation is mainly chert, spicularite and skeletal to ooid limestone, but contains substantial shale, marlstone and dolostone (Bamber and Mamet 1978; Richards, 1989). Sutherland (1958) divided the formation into members A, B, and C, in ascending order. Member A consists of black spicularite and spiculitic to radioarian chert, with subordinate black shale and dark grey spicular to pelmatozoan lime mudstone and wackestone. Lower member A is recessive and planar laminated. The moderately resistant, thin- to medium-bedded middle and upper parts of the member contain sharp based, graded beds. Cliff forming member B comprises spicularite and chertrich, massive spicular and bryozoan-pelmatozoan lime wackestone and packstone that are commonly rhythmically bedded and grade upward into cherty bryozoan-pelmatozoan lime grainstone. The grainstone is thick- to very thick-bedded and commonly shows large scale cross-bedding. Beds, nodules and coalesced masses of replacement chert commonly constitute more than 50% of dark to medium grey member B. Moderately resistant to recessive member C comprises medium bedded, medium grey skeletal to ooid lime wackestone, packstone and grainstone that are commonly rhythmically interbedded with calcareous marlstone. Nodules and irregular masses of replacement chert, corals, and brachiopods are common.

Relationship:

The Prophet gradationally overlies the Besa River Formation and is generally gradationally overlain by the Golata Formation, but the contact with the latter is locally sharp. In the southern Pine Pass map-area (NTS 93O), and locally to the north the Prophet is unconformably overlain by Permian strata. Most of the Prophet grades northeastward into an unnamed western correlative of the Shunda Formation and the overlying Debolt and Flett formations. Toward the southwest the lower Prophet passes into shale of the Besa River Formation as the upper Prophet grades into shale of the Golata (Bamber and Mamet, 1978; Richards et al., in press).

Other Citations:

Bamber and Mamet, 1978; Bamber, Taylor and Procter, 1968; Richards, 1989; Richards et al., in press; Sutherland, 1958.

References:

Sutherland, Patrick Kennedy, 1958. Carboniferous stratigraphy and rugose coral faunas of northeastern British Columbia; Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 295, 177 p.